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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27861149">Your Shadows Are Mine, But You're My Light</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BladedDarkness/pseuds/tangledlovelife'>tangledlovelife (BladedDarkness)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Possession</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:08:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,006</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27861149</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BladedDarkness/pseuds/tangledlovelife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What comes out of the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow is not Cassandra, nor is it her Mirror version. It's so much worse.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Your Shadows Are Mine, But You're My Light</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It's not like Rapunzel didn't notice that Cass was acting off.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It's just that Rapunzel didn't feel quite like herself either, and Cass has gone through just as much on their journey.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now, with Cassandra standing in front of her, decked in black and blue and glowing, the feel of Cassandra in her heart is almost entirely unrecognizable.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Sundrop is singing, but Rapunzel is quivering.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Cassandra grins at her, mouth closed and curled up at the edge, then cocks her hip out and tuts.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I tried to tell you, Rapunzel, Mother knows best."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Wh-what?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh yes, but you never listen, do you, flower?" There's a gleam in Cassandra's eyes that is not Cassandra at all, and Rapunzel recoils. "Out here with ruffians," she pins Adira and Edmund to the wall with the black rocks, "thugs," instantly Eugene and Lance are encaged, rocks pointed tight against Eugene's throat, "and so much </span>
  <em>
    <span>lava!"</span>
  </em>
  <span> She throws her arms out and the ground opens up beneath them to the sewers below, dividing the two of them and Pascal from Max and the others. A brief check shows that, in an impressive display of technique, the other humans in the room have been gagged, pinned against the walls of their cells but thankfully nostrils free.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It slips out unbidden. "M-mother?" She shakes her head. "Gothel." Rapunzel blinks against the tears in her eyes. "Where's Cassandra?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Who?" Gothel doesn't look up from her reflection in the rocks, a fistful of bright blue hair in her hand. "Oh there has to be a way to dampen this…"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Tell me what you did with her-"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I refuse to walk around like this," continues Gothel.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"Where is she?!"</span>
  </em>
  <span> Rapunzel yells, and Gothel straightens up, turning to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"What have I told you about screaming, darling? You know how it gives Mummy a headache." The pout on Cassandra's lips looks so foreign.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The voice is all wrong, but the tone paralyzes her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A breath. "Where is Cass?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A laugh slips out, low and threatening. The hairs on the back of Rapunzel's neck stand up, even more than they do from the energies of the Sundrop and Moonstone mingling. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Silly girl." Gothel looks at her nails, frowns, then rips off her left glove and resumes her perusal. "There never was such a creature."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You're wrong," Rapunzel says immediately. She's </span>
  <em>
    <span>felt</span>
  </em>
  <span> Cass, and there is no way she could ever mistake these two, not for so long. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eugene is looking at Cassandra's body with the same level of horror Rapunzel feels, and she can sense Pascal's disdain on her shoulder. She can't look away to see what the others are feeling. She's never been able to look away from Cassandra for long, and Gothel would never let her do otherwise.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh honestly, child, there's no shame in being fooled. Twice, perhaps. But I've been assuming this guise for longer than you've been </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive."</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The relief Rapunzel usually feels at Cassandra stepping closer is so vastly overwhelmed by the abject trepidation of Gothel's presence.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Did you really think all those supplies for you up in that tower took days to get? I had to cultivate a role, you see. I needed a public persona that could move undetected, and what better placement than in the very home of the head of Corona's finest?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It sounds ridiculous, yet Rapunzel can't speak.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know why you're so surprised, you've seen the transformations the other disciples are capable of," Gothel says, sneering, then she brightens. "But you've seen so little of the world, it's forgivable." Then she opens her arms wide and rushes forward, scooping Rapunzel into her arms the same way Gothel had always done, possessively, and plants a kiss on the crown of her hair that leaves Rapunzel struggling to breath through her panic.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It's not Gothel that holds Rapunzel in place. It's the fact that she still looks like Cassandra.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pascal holds no such qualms and promptly lashes his tongue into Gothel's eye. She hisses and steps away immediately. </span>
  <em>
    <span>"You,"</span>
  </em>
  <span> she says, and Pascal puffs up. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Still, Gothel takes a calming breath and smooths her hands over Rapunzel's hair, the way she always did. It's odd, because Cass's callouses catch against the fine strands and her fingers aren't quite as slender and delicate. "Come along, Rapunzel."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That's what makes her finally step back. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Or without Cassandra."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The last trace of good mood vanishes from Gothel's eyes. "Leading you out of the kingdom to where this all started wasn't for your benefit, silly girl. I knew the Sundrop needed to be reactivated if there was any hope of drawing it out of you. And you led me to the other piece as a bonus." She grabs Rapunzel's wrist and Cass's strength is behind it. "I have no intention of losing either of them."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Sundrop hums, and a pulse from the Moonstone resonates through the grip. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gothel stops tugging, delighted. "You see, flower! Even the Cosmos know you belong with Mummy."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rapunzel takes another step. "I belong with the people I </span>
  <em>
    <span>love.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Pascal. Eugene, and Cassandra. My parents."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gothel chuckles, low and sly, her eyes lidded. On Cassandra, it would be an effective way to win an argument.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gothel's finger raises Rapunzel's chin up to face her own, and this close, she notices the blue of Cassandra's eyes now. "I keep telling you. Cassandra doesn't exist, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Raps."</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The sudden fury she feels arcs along her skin in a blaze of yellow light, and stings Gothel's fingers.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The bolts of Sundrop magic push Gothel back, or risk being singed more than just her fingers.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gothel tuts. "You're just determined to make me the bad guy, darling." She holds out her hand, as if to summon more of the black rocks, but Rapunzel feels a dual thrum in her heart - one that echoes through the Sundrop and Moonstone - and instead, the rocks begin to crumble, faster as Adira and Eugene struggle.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The poisonous glare Gothel shoots her before fleeing looks foreign on Cassandra's face.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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